selfless
by shomarus
Summary: It doesn't matter how many she must go through. The pain she will go through. How many white-haired brats she'll have to look after, how many long-haired princes she must control herself around, how many perverted guards she runs into. This is for the greater good. Rose's. [Pearlcentric, centers on Pearl/Rose. Kingdoms!AU. T for sexual themes and light cursing.]
1. journey

**[author's notes]**

 **Hey there! I recently got into SU and so here I am with a Kingdoms!AU. Some elements from the canon story will be there. They're all still gems and stuff, but since I don't want to write any backstory without any canon, I'm gonna go with an AU lmao  
anyways, this story will be primarily Pearl/Rose but other pairings will be included as well! Steven won't be included for obvious reasons and um yeah! enjoy!**

 **ps. there'll probably be multiple mistakes (i mean with where the story was put) as I initially wrote this on a Chromebook and holy hell it's super easy to right click and fuck up everything. please PM me if you find any mistakes i'll fix them right away hahhh**

* * *

"Rose… We should be leaving soon."

"Perhaps, but… Ah, how I love this planet's sunrise. The colours are so warm and… soft… Surely, this must excite you too?" The pinkette's hand gently extended towards the rising sun, a gentle smile resting on her lips. Pearl was about to to urge her on, but the other gem remained silent, staring at Rose. How happy she seemed to be. After a moment, Pearl decided to sit next to her.

"... Garnet is waiting at our target, and she'll be displeased when we're not there at the agreed time… But since you seem to like this so much, for… whatever reason, I suppose it'll be fine if we stay here for a while."

And so they did. Although, Pearl could be less than interested in the sun. Sure, the sunrise here was prettier than it was back on their home planet, but Rose would shine brighter than any sun… She sighed and shook her head. Her feelings didn't really matter, not when there was something much bigger at stake (however, three thousand and five hundred years into the future, she'd hate herself for keeping her feelings hidden). "We have to go now," the orange-haired gem decided suddenly.

"Must we? Well, alright then," Rose said, reluctantly pulling herself up to her feet, with the help of Pearl. "You know, the way the sun shines on you… I never noticed it before, but I like it."

Pearl turned around, hiding her warm face face from Rose. "W-Well… I thank you…" _Curse her!_ She had no idea how to react when Rose said these kinds of things… She cleared her throat. "A-Anyways, Rose. Let's walk, I'll tell you the plan for today, since we're close." She pulled up a map of the country.

"First, we'll walk through the Forest of Causality—these humans have such odd names for places… Then, we pretend to be travelers passing through. You must stay by my side at all times, Rose. What you pulled yesterday wasn't funny, it scared me half to death…" Pearl could still remember the cold fear dripping down her back when she realized Rose wasn't with her.

Luckily, Rose had only been trying to scare her with an animal skull she found, instead of actually being lost. Of course, the older gem could probably take care of herself, but… Pearl always felt a little concern, which couldn't possibly be a bad thing, right? She gave a small sigh. "If we're lucky, the guard who should be standing at the gate will let us through. If he doesn't, or if we get jumped by humans along the way, I'll protect you."

Rose grimaced a little. Pearl noticed, and turned back around. She already knew why Rose seemed to be upset, but she asked anyways. "... What's the matter?"

"Must we kill the humans? Can't we just sedate them? Ohh, why don't they turn into gems when they're harmed? Then we can simply bubble them…"

"Rose. If we want to save these people… What is it if we kill the ones standing in our way? If we just let them get away, they'll tell others. Don't you remember when we were with Ruby and Sapphire, well… Garnet?" Pearl hated to remind Rose of this, but it was the only way to make her be quiet about the matter. "They wouldn't stop coming. They nearly broke Ruby and Sapphire's gems. Stabbing their swords into the cracks…"

The pink-haired gem remained silent for a few seconds. "The humans are charming, but they're so hostile… I want to help them."

Pearl remained silent and continued walking. "... We don't want to be late. We'll take a break when the sun reaches overhead."

The day went by generally peacefully. The air was crisp, and the atmosphere was almost calming, in a way. They didn't talk very much, and when they did, it was mostly Pearl asking if Rose was doing well. Which she was. In fact, Rose appeared to be more interested in the small butterfly that would flitter around her instead of their journey. Which admittedly, frustrated Pearl. Just the slightest bit.

"Well, we should be nearing our destination in a few more paces. From this point forward, we act like humans. If… If you don't know what to do, I'll think of something, alright?" Pearl looked back at the pinkette. Aside from the group of bandits that had jumped them the one time, they had done relatively well with the humans. But they hadn't studied them long enough… They were still evolving. So, Pearl made sure that she was ready to pull out her sword at any time. It's only for Rose's safety. _I don't need to harm anything if it's not threatening. She didn't want to attack someone and somehow upset Rose._ Pearl didn't get why Rose cared about those puny humans anyways. Pearl could outdo any one of those pathetic weaklings. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

Suddenly, the forest began to clear, and presented in front of them was the kingdom of Patria. "Garnet is in there…" Rose whispered. Pearl simply nodded and they proceeded. Oddly enough, there weren't many other travelers, despite Patria being the centre of all trade. The orange-haired gem figured that at the very least, there would be a lot of traders. She didn't quite know how to feel about that, actually. It was probably just a slow day.

"What is your business here?" A guard asked rather loudly as the duo approached the gates. Pearl thought carefully about her choice of words.

Pearl pointed to the bag she slung over her shoulder. "We're here to do some trading. We've decided that Patria is probably the best place for things like this, no?"

The guard studied the both of them for a moment. Rose smiled and waved politely. Suddenly, he leaned towards Pearl's face, and instinctively, she leaned away. "Well, today, there's a huge event. I heard they're executing a witch, and well, it must be brutal."

"Your point is?" Pearl asked, mildly disgusted and uncomfortable with how close the guard was.

"I wouldn't want two ladies such as yourselves to have to witness something like that, especially not you…" The guard grinned, and Pearl grimaced. However, not too soon after, she had an idea. After all, it didn't appear that dippy here wouldn't let them through without a little something else.

So instead, Pearl smiled widely. "Well, then~! Why don't we stay with you for a bit? What's your name?" She didn't really care much, but wasn't that what humans did? They asked for each other's names, right?

"Bill. Bill Dewey, miss. And your name?" _Ugh, he did the leaning thing again._ Pearl wanted to gag. His breath smelled horrible and he reeked of sweat. Nevertheless, she readied herself and made a quick signal to Rose. Get ready to run.

"Goodnight, Dewey." Pearl said, before sweeping her legs under Bill in a graceful arc. Before he even hit the ground, Pearl had grabbed Rose's hand and they ran into the kingdom.

* * *

 **End scene**

 **ok next chapter I'll introduce Garnet, Amethyst and possibly Greg haahhhh. If you enjoyed the story, could you please drop by a review? It helps motivate me to keep writing, and if you have any criticism I'll take it. Anyways, that's it. :)**


	2. complication

**[author's notes]**

 **Here's the second chapter! Greg's not in it yet but he's coming soon okokok ;;w;;**

* * *

As the two gems walked through the town, Pearl figured out that whatever execution that was going on was going on right now. And since they hadn't found Garnet yet, Rose suggested they check it out. Garnet could be watching while she waited for the two of them.

When they reached the town square, Pearl was surprised. People screamed all around her, and there was apparently more than one witch being burned at the stake. Unfortunately for the both of them, one of those "witches" was Garnet. "Oh, what is she doing up there?" Rose whispered urgently. Pearl's lips tightened.

"Well… Curses… All they're planning to do is burn them, right? I know Garnet can withstand the heat, she's a gem after all, but what about the other miss?" Pearl stared at the other one. She was young, very young. Unable to contain her curiosity, Pearl tapped a woman on the shoulder. "Excuse me, but what can you tell me about the purple one?"

"Oh, her?" She shrugged. "She was some crazy experiment… I don't know what she is, but I can't help but to feel just a little bad. Look at how much she's struggling… How much harm could the little thing cause…?"

Pearl blinked. "Well… Thank you anyways." She looked to Rose, who was slowly advancing in front of the crowd. "No no no no no no no, Rose no…!" She hissed and apologized to the people she bumped into as she ran for Rose. She tugged on the back of her top.

"Pearl? Oh heavens, Pearl, you have to help them…" Rose muttered as she looked back at them. The executioner was throwing the bundles of wood into the pit…

For a moment, the orange-haired gem thought of actually opposing Rose, but quickly decided against it. Even though she had a strong resolve, it weakened quickly under the presence of the pinkette. So, with a sigh, she walked all the way to the front of the crowd, ignoring the protests. She walked past the crowd, ignoring the looks she received. "Hey," she began, as the executioner turned around. "Could you perhaps untie them?" Of course, she didn't expect anything in return other than the executioner looking at her as if she was crazy and the crowd whispering like mad. Even Garnet eyed her suspiciously. Pearl had to admit, it was a very un-Pearl thing to do. But humans normally asked for things they wanted, right?

"Are ya fockin' stupid?" The executioner bellowed in a thick accent. "This bitch right 'ere, can ya believe 'er?" Pearl believed that the executioner was intoxicated, and she scoffed. Humans were truly the stupidest race of them all. Who, in their right mind would let someone do a job as important this whilst drunk on whatever alcohol they could salvage?

"Well… I had asked." Pearl shrugged. She considered pulling her special sword out of her gem, but quickly decided against it. She had way too much attention on her, which was of course, her own fault. But since she had all this attention, to make the people watching her think that she was a witch? She outright refused to risk it, so instead, she unsheathed the shabby human weapon that she had picked up from one of the bandits. It was heavy and honestly, rather awkward to swing with. She much preferred her more delicate weapon, but beggars can't be choosers, as the humans put it. "I'm rather experienced when it comes to swordplay, you know?"

A moment of silence passed before the executioner began to laugh. Hard.

And as a result, Pearl sheathed her sword once again. "Did… Did I say something funny?" She looked over to Rose confusedly, and she looked about as lost as she did.

"Hah, oh lord! This'll be one for the kids, won't it eh? They don't train women to fight with swords, you fockin' stupid idiot! You couldn't possibly beat me in a battle, eh?"

Pearl scoffed, but it did give her an idea. "Hm hm? Well, let's see just how good you are. How about this, if I win in a sword battle, then I get to keep the two up there. If you win… Well, take whatever you want from me. Does that sound fair?" She said in a rather high tone of voice. She was confident she would win anyways.

"Oh man, this'll be great! I'm in. We meet right 'ere, in an hour."

She nodded with a triumphant smile. Humans were so headstrong and rash, it made it easy to get what exactly she wanted. "Sounds fair."

While Pearl was slightly worried about Garnet and the girl, Garnet mouthed a "we'll be fine" to her. Pearl was hesitant, but she would accept it as an answer. Garnet wasn't useless. In fact, she was probably more use than she herself was, as much as she hated to admit it. But she was still curious about the girl. She wasn't human? Some experiment? When she won that sword fight, she decided she would most probably take the girl with them. She was bound to be some kind of use, right?

The crowd started to disappear, and Rose stepped forward. "I'm… Pearl, I'm glad that you granted my wishes, but was that the best way to go about it? Now everyone knows who you are, and I'm confident that… Maybe if we're caught doing something even remotely suspicious, they'll lock us up. I mean, even this stupid sword fight can't be legal! A-And you won't kill him, right?"

"I'm not promising anything, but at the worst he could lose a limb." Pearl said with a shrug. "In any case, I would like to go see if we can look at the armor. I wouldn't doubt that it'd be heavy and useless. Like all human things."

Rose tilted her head. "You really seem to dislike them. I think they're adorable, honestly…"

"Well, yeah, you're Rose Quartz. You… You find beauty in everything… That's something I honestly aspire to be. I wish I wasn't as… Well, as hateful as I am… But I love spending time with you, and somehow, you choose to spend your time with me? You're really one of a kind. And I admire you." Pearl said with a small smile, before shaking her head. She coughed. "A-Anyways, let's go, we only have an hour, hah…"

* * *

 **End scene**

 **Well that's the second chapter. It was written right after the first chapter, but it was like 4:45 AM when I finished. As a result, the chapter's really cruddy. I don't quite know how I feel about it, actually? i don't really want to rewrite it rip me Anyways, like last time, please leave a review if you're enjoying the story.**


	3. fall

**[author's notes]**

 **here's chapter three hahahhhhah haAaaaaAAAAああああ**

* * *

Pearl had been right about human armor. It was heavy, awkward, and whatever light armor there was, was just _flimsy_. If the homeworld gems launched an attack at this very moment, the humans would surely die without them. Sometimes, Pearl wondered if she cared about Rose enough to turn her back on her home, to throw away her heritage. _I do..._ It would have been better, perhaps, if the gem hadn't grown so attached to her.

"That fool should be here at any moment now, right?" Pearl wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to count human time. Her light blue eyes slid towards Garnet and the girl. She'd have stolen them already, or she'd at least be talking to them, if it weren't for the people watching her. With a look of distrust, which honestly, Pearl could care less about. As soon as they grabbed Garnet, they were free to leave. If Garnet had, of course, finished up her business here and got the mirror. "Hey, Rose, you alright? You look kind of uneasy."

"Aside from this whole sword fight? I'm just... Worried about what will happen if he defeats you. He might not stop after you go into your gem form, you know? He'll probably try to destroy it, or give it to someone to pry apart..." Rose covered her mouth, and Pearl realized that perhaps she had reminded her one too many times about the bandit attack.

She shrugged, looking uninterested. "It'll never happen, surely! After all, I've fought off countless beasts, so a puny human can't do much more."

"Yes, but..." Rose turned away and sighed. "Never mind. Why doesn't Garnet just break herself free? She has the capabilities to do it..."

Pearl thought about it for a moment. "For the same reason why I won't fight with my gem. She doesn't want to attract attention to herself, I mean, more than she already has. I have to wonder what she did in order to land herself in this situation..." The pinkette nodded in agreement. However, that train of thought was disrupted by the sound of someone's shout. The executioner, most probably.

"Oi, ya ready to fight?" He asked, in a rather mocking tone. Pearl raised an eyebrow. "Ya don't look ready at all, hmph! Incompetent lil' brat you are, eh?" At that, she rolled her eyes and straightened her posture. Unsheathing her sword, she pointed it at him.

He grinned wolfishly, unsheathing a sword of his own. To be completely honest, Pearl wanted to laugh. His sword was much bigger and probably heavier than hers, and all that armor he wore was most likely going to slow him down quite a bit. The gem began to bow down, but instead of the executioner bowing down, he slashed at her, nearly slicing a tuft of her hair. She grimaced. "You have no respect, do you?" She jumped back and brought herself to a fighting stance.

He bellowed with laughter. "There's no respect in a fight between swords, ya hear?" Pearl frowned and lunged towards him, but he parried.

Wasting no time, she quickly thrusted her sword at him, but her sword simply clanged against his armor. Rose didn't want her to harm him, but Pearl herself _greatly_ wanted to harm him... But all she had to was make sure he couldn't fight. And with that sword, knocking it out of his hands wouldn't be too hard, now would it? As he turned around, Pearl lunged for him again, and actually did manage to knock the sword out of his hand. "Your grip is weak, your armor slows you down, your sword is hard to hold." She stated, before sheathing her sword. "Now, we had a deal. I get to take the two of them."

"Im... Impossible! You fockin' bitch! You cheated!" He exclaimed angrily. He struggled to get up, trying to throw off his armor at the same time. Pearl shrugged and walked towards Garnet and the girl. She undid the binds quickly, and while Garnet landed gracefully, the girl landed onto the floor with a thud.

"You alright?" Pearl asked her, and she nodded while smiling. Thanking her over and over, the girl clung onto the taller gem's leg. "Hah... Haha, that's nice, um... Could you maybe get off of me? Whatever your name is?"

"Thank you so much! My name's Amethyst!" She chirped happily. But suddenly, a look of despair crossed her face. "What am I gonna do...?"

She tilted her head. "Do about what?" She asked, a little hesitantly. She still didn't know who Amethyst was, what her purpose was, or how powerful she was.

"I have nowhere to go..." She muttered, looking down solemnly. Pearl nodded slowly, but was shocked upright when she heard Rose make a squeaking noise. However, when she turned around, she had already been stabbed. Eyes widened, she looked down at the sword, and then up at her attacker. She hissed.

"That's why ya shoulda worn the armor, you bitch..." He muttered with a grin.

"You'll regret... that..."

And with that, Pearl was in her gem form. The executioner looked rather confused, while Garnet took the opportunity to pick Pearl up. Rose covered her mouth, eyes wide, while Amethyst hid behind Garnet's leg. The crowd that had been watching them looked quite confused, shocked, and _angry_ as well. And as if that wasn't enough shock for everyone, a voice boomed over the panicking audience. A voice that rang with authority, and a voice that made the executioner cringe. "What is going on here?"

"P-P... Prince Greg..." He muttered, straightening himself up. He looked absolutely delirious, the executioner. "I-I... These're the witches! They're all witches, my Prince! I stabbed her, and... And n-now she's a _rock_!"

"Heavens, settle down, John! I'm just asking what's going on!" Greg exclaimed, as he slowly began to look as lost as everyone else. His gaze turned over to the gems. "If I may ask... What is it that's going on? You'd all know, right?"

Garnet shrugged. "We'll tell you if you're not hostile." She said calmly, while stroking Pearl. She assumed that the orange-haired gem would take her sweet time in regenerating, like she usually did (unless she was fighting for Rose, of course). She looked at Amethyst. "Why don't you come too? I think I like you."

Amethyst just smiled and nodded.

* * *

 **End scene**

 **You know, I oughta stop writing these chapters late at night. ;-;**


	4. regen

As Pearl's body materialized, she was surprised to feel Rose's warmth enveloping her. "Pearl..." But, she liked it. It was moments like these that made her glad she was acompanying Rose. "You're alright." She let herself be squeezed tightly by Rose.

"Yes, indeed, Rose. But, if I may ask..." The gem pulled away to look at her surroundings. It was unfamiliar to her, and the room was lavish and posh. In fact, the pillow where her gem had been laid for the past who-knows-when was fancy as well. "Where are we? And where's Garnet?"

Rose smiled widely. "Oh, I've been dying to tell you about Greg~!" She swooned as she pulled away with a twirl. Pearl looked rather confused. She had rarely ever seen the pinkette this happy, but she could assume that this 'Greg' she mentioned was a human. Already, she felt a strong aversion to this 'Greg'. "After you had been stabbed, which, by the way, you had stayed in your gem for three days, Greg had taken us in~! Apparently, he's of a really high social class for humans as well! He's what they would call a prince. Doesn't it sound fancy? Oh, Pearl, you must meet him! He's absolutely adorable~!"

Pearl couldn't help but to frown. She didn't think that she would find him as cute as Rose said he was. "And what about Garnet? And, well, Amethyst?"

"I believe they're walking in the gardens at the moment, and it's a beautiful place, really. I'll walk you through it sometime later, alright?" Rose chirped happily. Pearl herself gave a small shrug. All she wanted to do now, after being stabbed by a sore loser and Garnet getting caught for whatever reason, was to leave this kingdom.

"That's nice and all, but I think it would be best if we left as soon as possible. Have you ever talked to Garnet about if she got the mirror?" Pearl asked quickly. Rose nodded, and turned around before grabbing an object off of the nearby dresser. That object just so happened to be the mirror they were looking for.

"Garnet said that the mirror had been in the possession of a green gem. I believe she mentioned the name Peridot?" Rose said, handing the mirror to Pearl.

She examined the mirror and flipped it around. She frowned as she realized that the gem was cracked. "Ah... What happened to it?" She asked herself quietly, before the mirror's image rippled. Together, she and Rose stared as the mirror showed them a wide variety of images flashing by. An empty ocean, void of life. A drill slowly coming for the mirror. The drill making contact with the gem. Day and night passing by as the mirror was dragged to shore. The tides lowered, and a hand shot out and grabbed it. The face that reflected, was what Pearl assumed to be the Peridot that Garnet had probably mentioned. "So the mirror had been destroyed by a drill?" She let out a nervous laugh.

"The drill doesn't look human made, does it? I doubt humans have yet to create such machines in the way gems do... So that's a gem device." Rose concluded.

"It had hurt another gem!" Pearl pointed out with a frown. "Gem devices shouldn't be able to hurt other gems."

Rose shrugged. "Then perhaps the drills are not there for doing good. After all... Why would there be a drill from what is most likely our Homeworld, right here on Earth? They seek to use the energy on this... Beautiful planet." Pearl considered this information for a moment. They were fighting to save this planet, and that was the most plausible thing to have happened.

"But what could a drill do...?"

* * *

"Greg, this is Pearl."

"... Hi." Pearl looked up at Greg. He was a somewhat chubby man—but he was not beautiful in the way Rose was. His eyes were dreamy, but he was not adorable in the same way Rose was. His hair was long, but it was greasy. He smiled, but he was dull.

Needless to say, she disliked him greatly.

Before Greg could say a word, Pearl went straight to the questions. "So if I may ask... Greg, why is it that you let us stay here instead of simply taking us to the prisons?" She asked taughtly. She had a pretty good guess, from the way that slob looked at Rose. And of course, he laughed nervously, and blushed.

"Well... I don't know. You all seemed like nice people." _Bullshit_.

"Remember, Greg. We are not people." Garnet said in the same, monotonous tone she gave everyone. "We are gems."

Amethyst piped up, raising her hand excitedly. "And I am too!" Eager to prove it to a shocked Pearl, the purple gem pulled down the top of the shirt she was wearing (which was different than the white sundress she had been wearing before, so she assumed it was a gift from Greg) to reveal a cleanly-cut gem. "Pretty neat, right?"

"Amethyst, leave your shirt up, that's indecent." Pearl said, tilting her head to the side. She was shocked, greatly confused. Hadn't the lady at the execution said she was an experiment. By a scientist. Albeit... And while it was a crazy theory that began to form in Pearl's mind, it was at the same time quite plausible. But what if—

"Y-You don't think that's cool?" Amethyst asked, pushing her bottom lip out. Pearl's train of thought quickly disappeared before she began to frantically wave her hands around.

"N-No, Amethyst, it's fine, great, even! In fact, why don't we talk about that right now? I'm excusing myself, my apologies, Greg." She said quickly before grabbing the purple gem's wrist and pulling her back to whatever room she had been in (albeit later, they had gotten lost and had to wait for Greg and Rose to show them the way back).

Greg raised an eyebrow. "Is... She always like that?" He asked, mildly confused. Rose giggled, putting her hand to her mouth.

"Yeah, most of the time. But she's really sweet too, I think she'll come around. She's probably excited~"

"Oh, well, probably."

* * *

 **End Scene**

 **hahahahhh**


End file.
